Mission to Mustafar
by TravisKnowledge
Summary: My version of Anakin Skywalker's attack on the Separatist Council on Mustafar. Beware: this is pretty violent.


Mustafar:

A Star Wars Fanfic:

Warning:

This describes Anakin Skywalker's slaughter of the Separtist Council on Mustafar from Episode III, and is a combination of everything, including the games, novels, comics, and movie, as well as addition of some fanon elements that I made up. Thus, the deaths of everyone is incredibly graphic and those who don't like that sort of thing should stop reading about now. Otherwise, enjoy my view of the Mission to Mustafar!

Time: 19 BBY

Five hours before the official end of the Clone Wars

Everything, strangely (for a war), was quiet on Mustafar. Of course, the lava continued its rumbling and there was mild chatter amongst the Neimoidian guards around the facility, but it was quiet. San Hill, the Muun leader of the Banking Clan, was adjusting his skinsuit, which began to ride up on him. Rune Haako had a small discussion with Rute Gunnay about the climate of planet Xagobah to pass the time. Wat Tambor simply admired the job his laborers (from the Techno Union) had done on building the facility. All was peaceful.

It was a peace that would not last for long.

It was Nute Gunray that first heard the buzzing of the holo-comm system. The Separtist Council gathered around and Poggle the Lesser flicked the switch. Darth Sidious' blue holo-image flickered into view. All could tell right away that something had changed. Not only did he look different—he looked older, more wrinkled—but he _sounded _different. There was a bizarrely happy air about him, as if he was about to do something important.

"Viceroy," began the Dark Lord of the Sith, talking to Gunray. "You and your comrades have done well. The war is over. And, as I promised, you will be greatly rewarded." Gunray wondered if Sidious had seen the mild tremor that had rippled through his body at the thought of victory just then. "I'm sending my new apprentice, Darth Vader, to administer the reward." Shu Mai greedily smiled at this, while Rune Haako noted the nostalgia of hearing the voice talk about sending a Sith apprentice. Passel Argente simply smiled in his silent way and then went over to talk to his aide, Denaria Kee. Po Nudo had no expression.

The war, it seemed, was over, and peace at hand.

Vader was coming.

The Sith Lord gave a quiet grin of triumph as he flew in his Jedi Interceptor towards the asteroid belt around Mustafar. This belt was not nearly as large as the one around Geonosis, but was still huge—huge enough to hide CIS transmitters.

His grin still on his face, he said quietly to himself, "No help for you." He knew there was no point in disguising himself. The only witness would be his little astro-droid, R2D2, who simply thought that he was doing as he had told his wife—ending the war. Artoo was smart, but fortunately not smart enough to guess what was coming. Even if he—or it, as Obi-Wan would have called him—saw the slaughter, he would realize it was just a critical part of the endgame.

Firepower blazed from the yellow interceptor's cannons as the CIS sattelites were destroyed one by one. Each exploded with a non-descript bang. No one could see the sattelites blow up, as the asteroid blocked the view. Plus, the Force was helping. In minutes, all five sattelites—ones that could be used to call for help—were ruined.

Anakin Skywalker was coming.

Nute Gunray began to get nervous. The two aides—ones that had been with him on Naboo—had not returned with Lord Vader. He had arrived minutes ago. He turned to his nephew and aide, Rute Gunnay, who comforted him, telling him he was always nervous. For the first time in a while, Gunray smiled. He then replied he was going to check up on the aides through the security holos.

The talk continued as usual, but grew more nervous. The war had ruined all of these people. Nute Gunray and Rune Haako were ravaged the most. Due to the Invasion of Naboo and the subsequent Clone Wars, their skin had gone from smooth to almost gnarled. Neither slept well at all, and their eyes seemed like dark holes. Even the aides began to worry, and beings like Twink Kee and Po Nudo's aide were starting to age.

Worry would soon escalate to panic.

The panic began when Gunray called Gunnay over to examine the holos. Some sort of commotion began, but soon the door opened and Vader, a cloaked and hooded figure, strode in. The four B1 battle droid commanders inside, OOM-9, OOM-14, YIN-426, and SVN-138 stood straight up, coming out of their slouches. San Hill eagerly ran to greet the Sith Lord.

"Welcome, Lord Vader", said the Muun. "I think I speak for the entire Separtist Council when I say that first remark, but I would like to be the first…"

"Very well. You shall be first." The cloaked Sith threw back his hood. Recognition came immediately. He was the poster boy for the Republic. His name was spoke by none other than the Muun who greeted him.

"You're…" gasped San Hill. "Anakin Skywalker!"

Vader made no expression as he ignited his lightsaber and slashed the banker in the chest, cutting his three hearts. He collapsed with a small groan.

"The resemblance is deceptive," muttered the former Jedi.

Panic seized the Council immediately. It came quietly at first as they took a long look at the holos Gunray and his nephew had been gawking at. The two aides, as well as all the Neimoidian Guards and Brutes, lay dead in various states of dismemberment. They all, in unison, turned back in horror as Vader lifted his metal arm and all the door shut and locked.

Quickly, everyone tried to escape at once. OOM-14 and YIN-426 drew their blasters from their holsters and fired, only to have the shots deflected. Both droids fell to the ground, shattered by their own firepower. Vader then lifted his hand and a chunk of the wall hurled itself at Poggle the Lesser, smashing him into the wall, blood splattering. Rune Haako and Wat Tambor ran desperately into the meeting room, while Po Nudo desperately fumbled with the door control panel. Nudo was immediately stabbed in the back, but stumbled away. San Hill apparently had one heart left and had crawled to his feet, while the wall chunk had fallen away and Poggle the Lesser escaped. Nudo struggled to escape the now-advancing Sith Lord and received a chop to the side. His arm fell to the ground.

Several of the others simply cowered beneath the tables, while Poggle, Hill, and Nudo again, in agony, fell towards Vader. In a single, smooth stroke, Poggle's throat was slashed whilst Nudo and Hill's heads hit the ground. Poggle, in desperation, grasped his throat and attempted to assault Skywalker with his bone cane. The Geonisian's arms and the halves of his staff fell before his body, and Vader briefly wondered who would succeed him as Archduke. No matter. The Geonisian Weapon Lords would bother the New Order no more.

Meanwhile, Twink Kee jumped at Skywalker, trying to attack him, but her body was sliced heightwise cleanly. Two Muun guards came at him simultaneously, but instead of the kill they were hoping for, they were administered a nice neck severing. Vader then began to advance to the other half of the room.

His first victim here was Denaria Kee, another aide of Passel Argente's. She was possibly the easiest. "I do not wish to live without my sister," she remarked briefly, referring to the death of the one that shared her name. Vader smiled and replied, "Thank you for making the job easier." Kee did not live long with a lightsaber wound in her chest.

Argente gave out a low gurgling sound as his aide died. Vader pondered briefly if he should have variety and kill a Neimoidian first, but this was quickly forgotten as the leader was bisected. The wedding ring Argente had prepared for his aide fell to the ground. SVN-138 snuck up behind the Sith, but nothing could block the former Jedi's Force sense, and the shot was deflected, leaving two pieces of droid on the chamber floor. He then hurled one of the tables at OOM-9, but the Naboo veteran would not give up and Vader was, regrettably, forced to behead the droid with the Force. Shu Mai, Cat Miin, and another Gossam aide to the former were now left for targeting. The unnamed aide was sliced in half, while Cat Miin received a death by disembowelment. Mai screamed out the name of her aide, but in vain. Possibly driven mad, she then spontaneously cried out, "We were promised a reward…a handsome reward…"

Vader smiled and said, "I'm your reward…I'm pretty handsome, aren't I?"

Mai turned from talk to escape as she jumped on the table, crushing the battered body of OOM-9 further. It did not matter, of course, and Mai's head fell to the floor in the sea of bodies. One of the beings, an Aqualish aide, had fled the meeting room to see Po Nudo's fate. He now cradled Nudo's broken body, weeping out of all four eyes, saying, "Master…master…" This heartwarming moment was broken as a lightsaber crashed down on the alien's back, and he fell on his master's body.

Rogwa Wodrata had attempted to sneak out of the facility as well, but her neck was caught in the spinning blue blade thrown by the Sith Lord. Nearly beheaded, the cowering Holwuff tried to crawl away, but was impaled by the same blade.

Vader was fully aware of the two Neimoidians still in the room, Gunnay and Gunray, but wanted to save them for last—yes, they would know the full suffering of trying to kill his beloved.

He now marched into meeting room, where Rune Haako, Wat Tambor (who was trying to break his way through the wall), Sun Rit (one of Poggle's aides, to replace the Geonosis casualty Sun Fac), Toonbuck Toora, and Nudo's other aide, were waiting. Vader leaped at Tambor, who moaned and begged for mercy. "Please," said the Skakoan, "I'll give you anything. Anything!" Vader diagonally sliced the Foreman in half, then hacked off his arm, and head. "Thanks, but no thanks. I'm happy from doing this, so I don't need anything."

The cruel executor turned to Haako, who seemed vaguely calm. "You can't do this," he blubbered. "You're a Jedi!" Vader grinned his dark grin as he lifted his organic hand toward Nudo's aide. At first, Haako wondered why the Jedi's fingers were turning blue, then extending into waves. Then, as the edges of the waves grew sharper, he realized that Vader was launching Sith lightning at the aide. He stared in horror as the aide screamed in utter agony and began to morph into the familiar shape of a Shi'ido. The former was more terrifying than the latter. Vader then calmly hurled the Shi'ido's burnt body into the main room. "Could a Jedi do that?" Skywalker said. Haako received a brutal slash to the side that took his right arm. He screamed and said "No! Please! We surrender, you hear! We surrender!!" But his pleas went unanswered as the familiar blue blade stabbed into his brain.

Sun Rit had fled back to the main room. So many had died already, he knew the end was near. The Geonisian almost excepted the Force Choke that killed him. Rute Gunnay had now picked up OOM-9's blaster and aimed shakingly at Vader. "S-stop!" he screamed. "No!" His target deflected a shot fired, then removed his opponent's gun arm. Gunnay's screams were cut off as he was bisected shortly afterward.

"Rute!" came Gunray's screams from across the room, yelling about the murder of his nephew. "Rute!!!" Skywalker turned briefly toward the screams and began to advance, deflecting a shot fired by Toonbuck Toora, who had entered and shot with another blaster. The Sy Myrthian fell without a sound.

Now came the grand finale. Skywalker had always hated Gunray, from the first moment he saw him on Naboo, to when he tried to kill Padme. Rage and savage glee burned in the former Jedi's eyes as he moved toward the Neimoidian. Gunray saw this and tears streamed down his eyes. "No!" he shouted. "Lord Sidious…promised us peace! We only want…" Whatever the blubbering creature was about to say was cut off as a slice was made across his body, removing his left arm. He fell to his knees, miraculously still alive. He gasped desperately and clung to Vader's robes in agony.

"I'm a kind man," said the Sith Lord. "I'm giving you thirty seconds to escape. Make good of it." Gunray took off like a shot toward the meeting room. Vader stood still.

Imagine yourself now as Nute Gunray. Your arm has been mercilessly sliced off, and your friends, comrades, and nephew were slaughtered. You have given thirty seconds to escape the murderer, with no defenses. What would you do?

I can only tell you what Gunray himself thought and did. He worked his way past the corpses in the meeting room and out to the room beyond. Here was a control panel, which he desperately worked to extend the bridges outside over the lava rivers. As they went across, he fiddled with it more and quickly summoned his last form of help, two droidekas. Then made his way to his ship, the _Lapiz Cutter. _But once across the bridges, he stopped, and waited for Skywalker to fall into the trap. Part of him knew Vader could easily kill the droidekas; the other waited to see the Sith Lord die. The first part was right. Vader charged through the doors and decimated both droids instantly, then began to chase the Viceroy. The latter ran into the nearby hall, but Vader was already behind him. The Sith pushed down the Neimoidian, who hit his head—hard—against the wall. Blood oozed down, but he struggled on, desperately screaming "Help! Help!" in vain. All the guards were dead. All the droids were destroyed. He was helpless.

Finally, they both reached the ship, which Gunray quickly boarded. Possibly because of the head bump and possibly because the emotional pain had driven him mad, Gunray manned the ship's guns. He was sweating, crying, and bleeding profusely, but above the pain, sorrow and fear was rage. He opened fire on Skywalker. Skywalker deflected. Perhaps in that single moment, the power of the Dark Side was given to Gunray, as Vader felt the Force crackle. No matter.

The explosion came silently for both of them. Time slowed as the _Lapiz Cutter _moved backwards from the force and crashed into the lava below.

Perhaps Gunray survived for a few moments. Perhaps he didn't. It mattered no longer.

For Darth Vader, the Clone Wars and his trouble were ended at last.

They ended the moment Order 66 was executed, and when Gunray plunged below the lava sea.

But there were more important things to tend to. Anakin Skywalker sensed his wife's starship approached Mustafar.


End file.
